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There Was A War That Lasted 335 Years Because People Forgot It Was Still Going On

The 335 Year War was a nonviolent conflict between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly. It started all the way back 1651 because the Netherlands decided to join the Second English Civil War on the side of the Parliamentarians (mostly because they figured they'd be the winner anyway). However, things became a little dicey because the Isles of Scilly were still very loyal Royalists because of Sir John Grenville, a close friend of Prince Charles.

The Dutch weren't going down without a fight, though, and the Dutch Navy fought the Royalist Navy down in the Scilly Isles with the Royalist Navy seizing a number of Dutch ships and a large amount of cargo. After losing so much in these constant battles, Dutch Navy Admiral Maarten Tromp demanded reparations for all the damage the Royalist Navy caused, but when they weren't hearing him, he declared war on the tiny Isles of Scilly March 30th, 1651.

However, it was all for nothing, as a final push by the Parliamentarians forced the remaining Royalist ships to surrender. Feeling proud and triumphant, the Dutch left as soon as they came, but they forgot one tiny little detail... the peace treaty.

For *three centuries *tales of the tiny island remaining at war with the Netherlands continued, but no officials knew if these were just rumors or facts.

It wasn't until 1985 that a local historian Roy Duncan investigated if these claims were true, and once he found out they were, immediately wrote to the Dutch Embassy to sort everything out.

The Dutch Ambassador visited the tiny island on April 17, 1986 to sign an official treaty and jokingly said, "It must have been awful to know we could have attacked at any moment."